Transcript The Uniform System of Accounts

Elijah Abinah, Assistant Director
Utilities Division
Arizona Corporation Commission
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Established by National Association of Regulatory
Utility Commissioners (NARUC) and Federal
Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) to guide
accounting along with Regulatory Commission
Orders.
Prescribe accounting classifications and
instructions to achieve uniform accounting records.
Maintain consistent application among companies.
The basis to be used in the financial reports.
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Having accurate and understandable accounting is the key to
assuring accountability, comparability, and rate setting
fairness.
Every regulatory decision suggests an underlying accounting
treatment.
Requiring the use of a specified USoA provides assurance
that regulators, and other decision makers, have the
information needed to set fair and reasonable rates
A “Uniform System of Accounts” is an accounting model that
regulated utilities are required to use.
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The USoA is a tool. Like most tools, the USoA helps facilitate the planning and
decision making necessary to assure that a public service corporation can
continue to provide sate and reliable service to customers at a fair and
reasonable cost.
Along with well-designed set of internal controls, application of generally
accepted accounting principles, and reliance upon independent third party
audits; the use of a USoA makes rate regulation possible.
Efficient regulatory decision making is only possible in an environment where
large amounts of financial data can be analyzed and understood quickly.
Without a significant level of uniformity in the structure and content behind this
financial data – no timely decision making would be possible.
Ratemaking is a safeguarding responsibility, and utilization of a USoA sponsors
and supports transparency to the benefit of all stakes holders. It should be easy
to use and easy to understand.
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Electric
FERC: 18 CFR 101 as of August 8, 2003
NARUC 1976
RUS 7 CFR 1767 (electric coops, similar to the
FERC USOA)
Also, Gas/Telecom/Water/Wastewater
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Definitions
Accounting Instructions (General & Plant)
Listing of Accounts:
 Account Numbers
 Account Titles
 Definition of the transactions to be
recorded in the account
 Instructions on recording the transaction in
the account
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USoA generated financial data provides:
1. Input for a variety of internal and external
reporting requirements;
2. A platform to support rate changes deemed
to be necessary;
3. Support for integrated financial and capital
investment budgeting as well as for
financial variance reporting; and,
4. Reliable information for making peer
comparison.
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Primary Objective: The primary objective of USoA shall be to
guarantee that the Companies’ Accounting Information Systems
can easily generate all the reports required by the regulatory
authority, based on information extracted from the General
Ledger and Subsidiary Ledgers.
Secondary Objectives:
Conform to financial best practices, while being consistent with
the Accounting Standards of the Country and the Accountancy
Law
Support variety of internal and external reporting requirements
for different users of accounting and financial information
Provide a platform that can change as requirements change
Integrate budget, financial, tax and regulatory reporting
Provide flexibility for future organization change, including
reengineering and reorganization
Be easy to use
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RCA:
Must be developed for each specific type of
undertaking;
Must be sufficiently detailed to allow accurate cost
allocation for pricing purposes, for benchmarking
purposes and for purposes of ensuring compliance with
license conditions;
The chart of accounts also breaks down by individual
accounts the expenses of regulated and non-regulated
activities of undertakings to ensure that the nonregulated activities are not supported by consumers
under regulated tariffs.
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RAM:
Provides instructions to the regulated undertakings as
to how to complete their duties;
Completing the chart of accounts and filing a
mandatory annual performance report;
Template reporting forms and related instructions
should be designed and adopted by the regulatory
authority, which should also establish an annual
reporting date.
RRF:
Defines the format of the required information for the
submission to the Regulator;
Provides more details to the required data for regulatory
purposes;
The analytical levels contain the financial information,
essential for the regulatory activities.
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Thank you for
your attention
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